Derbyshire beautician builds her own garden bar - and hopes to use it to raise cash for the NHS

Rachel Done-Johnson, who is married to Derbyshire Times specialist court reporter Andy, swapped manicures and facials for hammers and saws to keep herself busy, and built the bar from the remains of an old shed and from off-cuts of wood.

The 50-year-old, from Little Eaton, near Belper, said she hopes to use the bar to hold a fundraising garden party to raise cash for the NHS once the current isolation comes to an end.

She said: “I have been doing jobs in the garden to keep myself busy and, after I’d dismantled an old shed, I decided to build a bar so we could properly celebrate VE Day on Friday.

“I did it all myself while Andy was busy writing stories, and our son, Ollie, who is an art student, made the sign for me.

“Both mine and Andy’s grandfathers fought in the Second World War, so we wanted to make the day special in their memory.

“Before I became a beautician I spent 20 years working for the NHS and I know how valuable it is, so I hope that once this is all over I can open up our garden to friends and neighbours and hold a special fundraising garden party to raise some money for our local hospitals and health services.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor